Lingfield in Surrey is best known as the home of Lingfield Park race course. It's is a bit of a one-horse town (except when it's race day!). Blink as you drive through it and you'll miss it.
It would be a shame to blink though as you might miss out on a wonderful Thai restaurant called Thai Lounge. It's in the High Street so is easy to find.
The first impressions are good. It's obviously had some money spent on it. You enter into a bar area with some comfortable seats. The cocktail bar offers a wide range of cocktails as well as all the usual drinks.
The eating area is situated up some steps from the bar area. The whole place has got a nice contemporary feel to it.
All the waitresses were dressed in traditional Thai dress and had that warm friendly approach that you associate with Thai people. Service throughout the evening was both friendly and efficient.
There were four of us there on a Friday evening and whilst the place wasn't full it had enough people in it to create a buzzy atmosphere.
We all ordered different items from the menu so that we could try as many dishes as possible.
Starters included Goong Phaow (Tiger prawns with herbs & chilli sauce), Satay Gai (Chicken Satay) and a plate of Mixed Starters
I regard myself as a bit of an aficionado of satay as I spent 4 years in Holland eating satay. It's almost a traditional pub dish over there due to the Indonesian influence from it's colonial days. I've also eaten satay as street food in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The satay in the Thai Lounge definitely ranks high up on my list of best satays. The skewers came with big pieces of perfectly tender chicken. 9 out of 10 for this. (As an aside there is a nearby Thai restaurant in East Grinstead called Mae Ping that serves probably the worst satay I've ever had. Miserable pieces of dry, chewy chicken).
The other starters, with one exception, were all delicious. The exception was the Thai fishcakes which came with the Mixed Starter dish.
As with satay, I am a bit of an expert on fishcakes. I cook fishcakes at home that are very light and easy to eat. They are fat, crispy and tender. My wife says that she can never eat anybody else's fishcakes as they don't even come close to mine.
I don't know what it is with Thai fishcakes but wherever you go in the world you get served small flat things that are like rubber. I know this is the traditional style but I've yet to meet anybody who raves about these. The ones we had here were just as rubbery as anywhere else so low marks for this dish.
Mains included Gaeng Phed Gai (chicken curry), Gai Yang (Thai-style char-grilled chicken ), Goong Phad Nam Prik Phaow (stir-fried tiger prawns), Neua Phad Gra Pao (stir fried beef) and Pad Thai (thai noodles).
Everything was delicious but one dish stood out above the others. The Gai Yang was one of the tastiest, tenderest pieces of chicken I've had in a long while. It's a fairly substantial dish so definitely one for sharing.
Overall this place deserves high praise for its decor, food and service. Easily the best Thai restaurant that I've been to in the Surrey/Sussex area.
It would be a shame to blink though as you might miss out on a wonderful Thai restaurant called Thai Lounge. It's in the High Street so is easy to find.
The first impressions are good. It's obviously had some money spent on it. You enter into a bar area with some comfortable seats. The cocktail bar offers a wide range of cocktails as well as all the usual drinks.
The eating area is situated up some steps from the bar area. The whole place has got a nice contemporary feel to it.
All the waitresses were dressed in traditional Thai dress and had that warm friendly approach that you associate with Thai people. Service throughout the evening was both friendly and efficient.
There were four of us there on a Friday evening and whilst the place wasn't full it had enough people in it to create a buzzy atmosphere.
We all ordered different items from the menu so that we could try as many dishes as possible.
Starters included Goong Phaow (Tiger prawns with herbs & chilli sauce), Satay Gai (Chicken Satay) and a plate of Mixed Starters
I regard myself as a bit of an aficionado of satay as I spent 4 years in Holland eating satay. It's almost a traditional pub dish over there due to the Indonesian influence from it's colonial days. I've also eaten satay as street food in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The satay in the Thai Lounge definitely ranks high up on my list of best satays. The skewers came with big pieces of perfectly tender chicken. 9 out of 10 for this. (As an aside there is a nearby Thai restaurant in East Grinstead called Mae Ping that serves probably the worst satay I've ever had. Miserable pieces of dry, chewy chicken).
The other starters, with one exception, were all delicious. The exception was the Thai fishcakes which came with the Mixed Starter dish.
As with satay, I am a bit of an expert on fishcakes. I cook fishcakes at home that are very light and easy to eat. They are fat, crispy and tender. My wife says that she can never eat anybody else's fishcakes as they don't even come close to mine.
I don't know what it is with Thai fishcakes but wherever you go in the world you get served small flat things that are like rubber. I know this is the traditional style but I've yet to meet anybody who raves about these. The ones we had here were just as rubbery as anywhere else so low marks for this dish.
Mains included Gaeng Phed Gai (chicken curry), Gai Yang (Thai-style char-grilled chicken ), Goong Phad Nam Prik Phaow (stir-fried tiger prawns), Neua Phad Gra Pao (stir fried beef) and Pad Thai (thai noodles).
Everything was delicious but one dish stood out above the others. The Gai Yang was one of the tastiest, tenderest pieces of chicken I've had in a long while. It's a fairly substantial dish so definitely one for sharing.
Overall this place deserves high praise for its decor, food and service. Easily the best Thai restaurant that I've been to in the Surrey/Sussex area.
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